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Well, if you're speaking figuratively -- all of them. It's part of a president's job to drum up support and enthusiasm for their latest war, policy, agenda, or what-have-you. Literally, however, four of our country's leaders were former cheerleaders. George W. Bush wielded his megaphone as head cheerleader at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Ronald Reagan rallied the crowds at Eureka College in Illinois. Dwight D. Eisenhower got them fired up at West Point Academy. And Franklin D. Roosevelt shouted from the sidelines at Harvard. While not presidents, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and Mississippi
Senator Thad Cochran are former cheerleaders as well. Why so many political heavyweights on the list? Jim Nelson of GQ magazine notes the similarities between pep rallies and political rallies, and points out that cheerleaders know "how to work a crowd, how to exploit a captive audience, how to come off wholesome and energetic and winning." If you still find the idea of world leaders shaking their pompoms a wee bit odd, you're not alone.
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